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May 2, 2014May 4, 2014

#onthebookshelf The Love Affairs Of Nathaniel P. Adelle Waldman

This week’s been a good week for reading. One book I can’t say anything about just yet but- it’s sure to be a hit. I’ll give you a clue- every savvy female’s idol, Caitlin Moran. Look out for my review on publication (July)- I’ve already written it.

The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.

I know you’re told from a very early age not to judge a book by its cover- BUT this is definitely what encouraged me to pick up this one. With a really edgy and stylish cover and rave reviews on the back, I picked it up and dived in.

The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. tells the tale of New York twenty somethings in the world of publishing and hipster land Brooklyn negotiating love and sex and being a success. The female debut author writes with biting honesty about women in the voice of a male and it’s often disconcerting how often you may recognise some of your own cringey female behaviours if you’ve ever been in a relationship where you feel second in the hierarchy of superiority.

Maybe for this reason, this precise insight into how women think, feel and behave sometimes, the books fails to be convincing as written from a male’s perspective.

As for Nathaniel himself- or Nate as he’s known- everyone pretty much knows one. He’s intelligent, attractive, though not traditionally good looking (think tall but with a big nose or average height with dimples or slightly balding with redeemable eyes), quite successful, a bit rough around the edges, scorns the middle classes yet will inevitably wind up there, begrudgingly or not, and talks about himself a lot. Despite all this, he gets really hot girlfriends and to be frank, treats them like shit.

He falls in love with them to make himself feel better, becomes infatuated with them, even if the feelings are not returned and then discards them unceremoniously.

Kind of reads a bit like every romantic comedy but tries to bit a bit edgier. Maybe more 500 days of Summer then than something with Zac Efron in.

Read and decide whether you #lovenate or #hatenate

I’m #hatenate because he’s a bit douche

But #lovenate cos, well, pretty much every guy I like is a version of him.